Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Does anyone know what September 7th is? It's National Granparent's Day! What a great time to say, "I love you grandma, grandpa, nana, papa, yia yia, papou, mawmawm pawpaw, granny, gramps!"

Do you know when and how the first Grandparent's Day came about? Marian Lucille Herndon McQuade, a housewife in Virginia, founded the holiday. After working with senior citizens for many years, she began her campaign to have a holiday to not only honor grandparents, but to bring attention to the needs of those in nursing homes.

President Jimmy Carter signed the proclamation on September 6, 1979 and the first Granparent's Day was celebrated. Marian McQuade is now 91. She's the mother of 15, the grandmother of 43, and the great-grandmother of 10! I bet she has quite the spectacular Grandparent's Day!

When I pick my kids up from school, it always amazes me how many grandparents are there picking up their grandkids. According AARP, 4.5 million children are being cared for by grandparents. It doesn't surprise me one bit.

Here's a cool resource for all grandparents! It's Grandparents.com. Yeah, the site's for grandparents, but there's a bunch of really cool stuff on there for parents too! The website is chock-full of ideas, tips, food, games, toys, activities, advice, and a message board so you can chat with other grandparents. If you sign up to get their newsletter (only takes an email address), you can get their guide, 100 Free Things To Do With Your Grandkids too.

So, here are a couple quick, easy, inexpensive, and fun ideas to help your kids celebrate their grandparents...

Another inexpensive, fun thing the kids will love doing is decorating a shirt, apron, or tie. Just spread out a LOT of newspapers, dip the kids' hands into fabric paint and let them put their handprints on the shirt. You can fill it in with names and a title like, "Grandpa's fishing buddies" or Grandma's little angels".

Or have the kids write a story for their grandparents. You can help younger kids by asking them questions like, "What is Grandma's favorite food?", "How old is Grandpa?", or " What do Grandma and Grandpa like to do?" Then write the questions and answers on paper. This is always good for a laugh as little kids tend to come up with some pretty funny answers.

22 comments:

I LOVE sending my Grandma and Great Grandma (99 Years young!) sweet thoughts and hugs all the time, but especially on Grandparents day. It tickles them pink that I, a grown woman still call and wish them Happy Grandparents Day :)

I always wondered...that includes the great grandparents, right? My little "Ham" is the first great-grandbaby in our enormous family. Between my husband's two sets of grandparents, there are 46 grandkids, one great-grandkid and one on the way! We just HAVE to include them!

Can we assume the picture is you with your Grandmother? It is adorable and Brooklyn is the spitting image of you. Thanks for the reminder for Grandparents Day. I lost my Grandparents when I was still a teen and I didn't realize how much they meant to me until I had children. I wish they had been here to see it. My kids adore their Grandparents and this is a day to make them feel extra special.

I agree with the above posters. The VERY first thing I thought was, "Wow, if that's Dawn and her grandma then Brooklyn looks just.like.her." It's a great picture!Thanks for sharing the history. I no longer have any grandparents of my own (I'm only 36 so I think that's very sad) so am building the best relationships b/w my kids and their grandparents the best that I can!

I am so glad you shared the history of how grandparents day came about. I always thought the greeting card companies came up with it just to make more money, so I have always ignored it, and just sent cards to the grandmas and grandpas on mother's day and father's day. I feel I have done a huge disservice to my parents and MIL, because my grown kids now do not keep in touch with them. I wonder if it's too late to start celebrating grandparent's day?

My mom passed away when I was 13, and my grandma packed up everything she owned and moved out here to take care of me so that I wouldn't end up in foster care. I don't know where I would be today if she didn't step up.

I'll be giving her her first great grandson any day now, and I don't think I've ever seen someone so happy before! I think she's going to have an awesome grandparents day this year.

I am so happy that my daughter (she is an only, only, only) had such a great relationship with her grandmother. I never really knew my grandparents. My mother was from Australia and my fathers parenst were selfish people. My mother was the epitomy of what a grandmother is. We sure do miss her. She would have been so proud of what Shay has done with herself. Thanks for the great post.

We burried my Grandpa two weeks ago today. My how my heart still hurts and aches that he's gone. I'm so happy that he's finally dancing with our Lord and Savior, but the selfish side of me wants him back! I loved that man. He was awesome.

That being said....Grandparents Day has always been a big thing for me. I never knew the history of it until now, so thank you for sharing that.

Out of 17 grandkids, I'm the only one who sends my grandparents a card. They get so tickled from it and I love hearing the excitement in their voices when I call. It's so priceless to me.

Thanks, Dawn, for sharing with us and encouraging people to get out there and "celebrate" their Grandparents! :)

Thank you for reminding me, Dawn, of this special holiday! My parents were among those grandparents picking up at school today (my dad has decided that MWTh, Mister Man will NOT ride the bus home and instead my dad will pick him up). And they definitely deserve a huge shoutout. Now to figure out what special thing to do for them. I do like the idea of the book....

I celebrated my mother (God rest her soul) by sending her flowers on my "milestone" birthdays. The last was my 40th ... and she was dead six weeks later. I wish I had also celebrated my grandparents .. but I, too, was a believer that it was a "Hallmark" holiday. Sad.

Do it while you can! Before they are gone! And please, please, please teach your children the value of a "thank you" note. I never know when 4 of my 6 grandchildren receive my cards, gifts, etc. Now that they are in their teens, they only get a card from me. The youngest two always send notes and consequently still receive gifts.

Thanks for this entry. I am still grieving the loss of my wonderful Granmda--she passed away two weeks ago. I had already bought her Grandparents day card, and it is still sitting here. She was such a wonderful person--and my only remaining Grandma. Thank you for helping to remind us to take time to tell those important to us how we feel...

Although you have to prepare yourself for dealing with messes (meaning old clothes and preferably doing this activity outside), one thing that's really cool is to have kids put their handprints on thick art paper with acrylic paint and then write their names, a little message, and the date on it. After it dries, you can put it in an inexpensive picture frame (and if you have a current photo of the child, put the photo above the handprints). This makes a really cool milestone to look back on later, for grandparents, parents, and the kids too!